Mosaic
by PollyMM
Summary: Because the most beautiful art is made from shattered pieces This is the PREQUEL to my story Breached, about how Cisco and RiverSong came together, the birth of Sonoa, and the start of the Collection Agency as I established it on E19
1. Chapter 1

Things were busy as always at the truckers stop on the edge of Highway 125. Trucks were pulling in for a refill. Their owners going inside to do the same away from the pouring rain which made their long hours on the road even longer, blinding them with the grey and forbidding atmosphere that Earth 19 had more days of the year than not.  
It was a cute diner, inside and out. One of those cozy little holes in the walls that are always a welcome sight to those driving along the highway. The outside of it was brick, but with lines of colorful flowers in red stone surrounding it up to the cheerful chimes that greeted people in. Many truckers and some people too tired to drive on would pull around to the large area in the back to spend the night, knowing that a good home-cooked meal would be waiting inside for them in the morning, after finishing a good home cooked dinner the night before. To most, it was a little oasis in the middle of vast nothingness save for rain, the road, and miles of buildings repeating so much it was nearly hypnotic.  
Inside the smell of coffee and eggs filled the paneled wooden walls. Cheerful stills of Central City lining the paneling over each table that could seat at least eight at each one. Blue and yellow tabletops between wooden benches, a large sit up counter lining the opposite wall to a large window cut out to a very busy kitchen.  
The "Sun Tree Diner" although ironic in its name to this dark and dismal city, was the little piece of sunshine to almost everyone around, except for the one waitress that worked there. Other waitresses just took the comments of those who passed through with a wink and a pretty smile, hoping that a little innocent flirting meant a few extra bucks on the table left behind. This one was different, the people that came in and out were enough to make her blood boil, her dark reddish skin was the topic of many conversations which made her feel even more uneasy.  
"Come on cutie, I've been on the road for hours." a man sitting at the table, his hand on the thigh of a tall dark woman in a blue waitress dress in front of him.  
"May I take order," she repeated, backing up slowly her very broken English bringing a sly smile to the ragged truckers lips.  
"Oh, you can do more than take my order." He sneered as his fingers gripping her thigh a little tighter, laughing when she gasped and almost knocking down a chair behind her.  
"Stop." she persisted, her hand on his trying to pry his fingers off of her skin right under the lacy part of her mid-thigh dress. Pressing her thumb into the weaker part of his hand she heard a pop feeling it beneath her fingers.  
"Son of a …!" He exclaimed pulling his hand back to coddle it in his other one. "You little.."  
He stood, a few other men looking at him but shrugging their shoulders at the commotion. They were all tired and hungry and lonely and most of them agreed that the tall dark waitress with black hair and brown eyes that shimmered in what little light they could hold was worth hitting on. Many have tried it before, many will try it again.  
He grabbed her arm and she slapped him, no way he was going to overcome her here in the middle of a diner. Squealing she was pushed back against the wall, her attacker angry as a rattlesnake coming at her, his fist back ready to strike. No one was coming, no one ever did. Bracing herself she closed one eye very hard, the other one looking innocently at him. Her fingers clenched into a fist as at the last second she ducked completely down, the truckers fist smashing into a wall right over her head. She could hit him back, kick as he yelled holding his hand in pain, the crunch a moment before she knew it was his fingers he broke himself against the hardwood behind her. She was in a perfect position to…  
"Are you okay?" She heard suddenly daring to look up to see a man in front of her offering his hand.  
"Y..yeah." She did her best to smile, taking his fingers as he helped her up, now looking eye to eye with the man who saved her, watching a taller man rustle with her tormentor. "Th...thank you."  
She felt his charcoal eyes look over her quickly as he nodded, running his dark fingers through what was left of his shaved hair.  
"Hey, no problem. We almost didn't step in you gave him a Hell of a show." he grinned, his demeanor going from seriously worried about her to playful almost instantly. "I'm Jax, that big tall lanky guy is Sean."  
Sean looked up and pulled his scarf down over his five o'clock shadow. Seeming to disappear for a second only to turn solid the man who was after her in handcuffs yelling and cussing as he was lead out the front door.  
"Glad you're okay ma'am," he said simply.  
Jax shook his head with a chuckle.  
"He doesn't say much. Are you sure you're okay? We can get you to the hospital…" he looked at her name tag for her name "Amy."  
She nodded slowly taking a ragged breath opening her mouth to answer him when a voice interrupted her instead.  
"I'm sorry sir this woman has troubled you. Amy back to work...now. You have eight more hours of this shift or I will tell the home that you are not doing your job. You want to keep that apartment of yours, right? Get to it." a short overweight man behind him said, motioning at her as if he was frantically swatting at a bee.  
"Yes sir." she smiled meekly to Jax, her eyes showing all the gratefulness in the world to him and picked up her notepad to get back to work.  
"Always getting in trouble that one." the chubby cook patting Jax on the shoulder. "Hard to get help these days."  
Grumbling he went back to the counter as Jax waited patiently for Amy to get done taking an order.  
"Here," he whispered, holding out his hand.  
Slowly she took it, shaking it cautiously as he left with a nod leaving something behind in her fingers. Looking around and turning away from any prying eyes she looked into her palm, two one hundred dollar bills and a piece of paper that just said Collection Agency with a bunch of numbers she could only assume was a phone number although she never had a phone.  
Amy turned her lips parted in disbelief to thank the man that saved her, but he was gone. Running outside she looked around in the pouring rain but no sign of either man was around. Only trucks and that family with the RV that rolled in last night. Wrapping her fingers around the number and the money she slid it into her apron pocket, the white lace in stark contrast to her sky blue waitress outfit.  
She was never going to forget this.  
The rest of her shift went off okay despite her shaken nerves. Her mind raced about being saved by the famous Collection Agency, she heard so much about them since coming to the outskirts of Central City and knew she had seen the taller of the two, Sean, before, sitting in the corner sipping his coffee. He rarely said anything to her, today was probably as much as she ever heard him talk.  
Wiping down the rest of the tables, she nodded her goodnight to Frank, the chef, and her boss. He worked hard, and he was willing to take her in and give her a job. He was hard, very hard, on her but as long as she stayed out of trouble and the patrons happy, he let her keep her tips and gave her a fair wage. He also signed her apartment for her since the place she rented from refused to rent to someone with no bank account, no job, straight out of a family home.  
Life was hard, every day for her was a struggle. She never had a place to belong but she was finally making herself a life. Working for various people since the age of thirteen, she was used to the work, used to how people treated her and although she never gave into them often it wore on her like water over a rock.  
It took another hour of classical music playing from the little radio on the counter and a mop before she was satisfied it was good enough to go home. She looked at the numbers in a circle on the wall, but they meant nothing to her so instead leaned on one of the freshly cleaned tables she looked up at the moon struggling to peek its way out of the clouds. It was about one in the morning. Time to go home, take a shower and collapse face first on the mattress. So glad tomorrow was one of her precious days off.  
Getting her arm into her sweater and finding her keys she turned off the lights, looked around once more as her fingers flipped off the radio and stepped out of the back door that automatically locked behind her.  
It was cold out here this morning, rain sticking to the parking lot and streets with icy fingers as the wind howled like a lone wolf through the buildings ahead. The trucks sat in row upon row like silent metal beasts in low rumbles, their engines running to keep their drivers warm. She stopped and picked up a few cans and as she went to toss them in the big dark blue recycling bin at the edge of the parking lot, one of the beast's eyes opened. She put her hand up to stop the high beams to keep from blinding her hearing footsteps of more than one coming toward her on the wet concrete.  
"Going somewhere?" a rough voice rang out over the rain and the blinding light.  
"I go home. Food in the morning," she replied as the bright light was silhouetted by one big dark shadow, a chain or something large in his hand trailing on the ground.  
"Oh..." a sadistic chuckle came from the shadow, the chain raising a bit as another shadow joined on one side, and a slightly smaller shadow joined him on the other "We aren't hungry..."  
"For food at least," a smaller voice said from the left as she backed up, realizing she was almost completely surrounded.  
A firm arm around her waist from behind confirmed that this was something her self-defense know how was going to get her out of. The world started to slow down, to blur around her as she struggled, doing her best to fight off those that circled around her, cat-calling and taunting her. Laughing at her fear that had to show in her eyes. No heroes were around this time, it was her and them.  
Closing her eyes she decided she was going to survive this. Maybe she would be in the hospital but she was not going to let them take her without a fight. She gave a little to the arm around her waist the man digging in her apron for her money and in that give the grip relaxed. Slamming her foot down on his he gave out a yell, releasing her enough she could spin out of his fingers. Another firm hand on her arm this time, ignoring the bad words that were being thrown at her with a side-step as a fist came rushing past her face she twisted her arm now holding his, using him to lean on, her sneaker going right into the unpleasant place of the man who was rushing toward her. Gasping he fell to the ground, hands between his legs rocking back and forth. There was a break as the other men all turned their attention, grimacing for a moment at their fallen partner. This was the time to run, and she did. She used all her strength and put her full adrenaline into a sprint, ignoring the gripping fear she had as a thunderous noise started coming up behind her, headlights casting her shadow before her.  
Her fingers gripped a light-post, using it to almost hurl herself ninety degrees from the path of the semi, her sneakers squeaking on the wet pavement. If she wasn't a scared rabbit being chanced by a pack of wolves she would have remembered to go down the alley where the semi wouldn't fit. In her panic, however, she kept running, crashing into a door to a gas station she thought was open but it was locked up tight. Bouncing off of it, her nose bleeding everywhere she banged on it, her perusers catching up quickly.  
"Nowhere to run you..."  
Closing her eyes she raised her hands, not realizing the cut-off sentence was because there was suddenly no one behind her. In the glass reflection she thought she saw lightning, but with the beautiful weather in Central City it didn't come to much of a surprise until she swore it came back up to her, the floor and inside of the store glowing a beautiful shade of purple.  
"Are you okay?"  
The voice coaxed her around, with gentle two gloved hands on her shoulders nudging her to face the man who was suddenly there.  
Putting a hand to her nose she nodded, looking straight forward into the dark red jacket of a man she just met hours before, following his red scarf up to his face her hand dropped as he pulled his white face covering down his blue eyes focused on her.  
"Are you okay?" he repeated.  
Amy nodded slowly. She wasn't sure if she was okay but as long as those men didn't come back, she was okay. Maybe this man would stay with her. She felt safe with him there.  
"How did you find me?" she stammered around his hand trying to tend to her nose as two jet flames streaked across the sky landing a safe distance away from the gas station.  
"You set off the silent alarm when you hit the door, Felicity saw you on the monitors and sent us out." He simply stated.  
"Felicity?" she watched as the streak manifested itself to be the same kind man who came to her before at the diner.  
"She runs the police monitor and has other...jobs." Sean started.  
"Oh god look at you." Jax comforted putting his hand on her shoulder giving Sean less room until his follow hero nudged him to get out of his way. "I told you we should have walked her home."  
Sean only grunted a small noise as the red and blue lights of the police car and an ambulance he called as he was taking her attackers for a nice overnight visit to the CCPD.  
"She's brave." he only replied to him as the EMS came.  
"I can't afford hospital" Amy replied, her big eyes looking up at the two men she trusted from the start.  
"Don't worry about that girl, just go. We have you covered." Jax said motioning for them to take her and tend to her nose. "We will meet you there once we go through what happened here."


	2. Chapter 2

A lone figure leaned against the dark window in a black room, the light of the flashes from the storm outside making a soft sigh escape his lips. Clutching a small bag in his hand he turned, raising his free one so it was ninety degrees from his body a bright blue light forming around his outstretched fingers and slowly swirling like a glowing whirlpool around as it became more and more concentrated and solidified in the center. Of course, the man didn't put much thought into the beauty of it, barely did anymore.  
Stepping through it would normally make anyone fear for their life, but to him, it was the normal way of traveling. A second later he was moving his black curls from his face, landing on the other side of the breach in a small apartment smelling of the cedar his feet landed on and fresh paint to the red and yellow walls, the bag in his hand being tossed on the counter.  
'Welcome home Cisco.' he whispered to himself taking off his jacket for the day and putting it on the back of the only chair now used at the breakfast bar that surrounded his kitchen area, opening out to a purple couch, a large TV, and not much else. Some video games tossed about. A blanket drabbed over the soft bright fabric of the couch. His sudden dislike of yellow and red as his kitchen colors, especially since they faded to a light rose color in his living room. Definitely, a girl who lived here before; so much time at work made decorating exhausting to even think about so he dealt with the color palate. Lining the wall away from the door that any other person would use to come and go where multiple computers, little bits of wire and small tools to put them together mixed with hanging circuits and other odds and ends that any engineer would have. Much like his earth one home, a hanging barn door along the wall from the kitchen opened up to his bedroom, and his next destination, the shower.  
Taking off his shirt in the small bathroom he watched the water in the mirror behind him steam up, warming the room almost to a rain-forest feel within seconds. No water shortage here ever… one plus. He stepped in now completely undressed letting the water wash over his sore back muscles, his hands on the wall in front of him. It felt good, he's been so busy recently he actually needed this. Now to have a gentle pair of hands washing through his hair, wet skin on his to make him forget the day. Not to mention his metal leg, a good massage would make the difference.  
It has been almost two years since Gypsy left and the hurt still lingered. He thought some of her remained in his home, but it didn't. Only a little ring where her favorite shampoo bottle leaked and stained his white shower with a dull purple was evident she ever was there. Even that was fading. The problem with having a breacher for an Ex; they can come and get the things they left after your break up when they knew you are gone. No boxes of memories to give back awkwardly at the park. No cups of coffee when you go over to give them their stuff back in hopes you talk it out and get back together. Nothing. Just a vast emptiness.  
It was worse ever since he got back from Star Labs on Earth one, his leg healed for the most part and getting back to work. There was that woman who promised coffee, but if she was traveling with his friends on Earth Ones WaveRider, then who knows when that is. Time travelers are so complicated.  
Stepping out he reached for the towel, hoping for a second the pink one would be beside his red one, but he would reach on forever if he didn't stop and realize it wasn't there. He wrapped his towel around his waist, putting some coconut oil and vitamin E through his hair with his favorite brush, looking into the mirror to see what reflected back. Nothing but water moisture. He opened the door to his bedroom and turned on the exhaust fan watching his face reappear slowly in the reflective glass once more, his dark curls dripping around his face and hanging around his goatee that was forming. Rubbing his hand over it he debated a few moments rather shave it off, but resisted. Joe rocked it, so could he.  
A few moments later he was back in his kitchen, taking down a large brown container from the wooden shelf, the aroma of the sweet caffeinated heaven filling the room. Using one hand he turned on the TV in the living room to watch the news although he half listened to it as he made what his soul really needed today, coffee.  
"Today the "Sun Tree Diner" was the centerfold of attention as two metas, each with badges from the Collection Agency, saved a young waitress from the wrong kind of attention. The mayor says although she knows the C.A does many things to help across the multiverse, that we need more attention to the crime in the streets of Central City, and this earth and wishes to personally thank the people who are trying to make the earth safe once again. The recent crime spree has multiplied over the last several months but..."  
Cisco tuned it out as soon as Jax and Sean came on the screen his attention focused back to his own loneliness and the precious black liquid being created in front of him.  
Stay focused Ramon.  
Barry had spent the last year with Nora, doing who knows what to the timeline although no one asked why he actually disappeared for over twenty years, nor seem to want to stop the situation,, Then again, they had known about it way before his daughter showed up. All of them. Definitely not the person he wanted to met last time he was back on Earth one last year, but she was sweet enough he couldn't be angry with her. He was more hurt. His daughter would never do that, and no daughter in the seen future for this single man.  
At least Harry came with him. It was great to have his friendenemy there with him, and although maybe his Earth-Two friend wasn't all he used to be, he was great company and had these ideas that just blew him away. All he needed was a little boost and his own team to put them to good use. Harry and his team had helped them so much and it made him seem not so far from home.  
Being alone on two different Earths was so overwhelming. He often wondered what Jay would say about that, he always gave the best advice. The elder speedster had solid words for everyone, and Cisco missed him. He often thought about breaching to Earth-Three just to see how the father figure was doing, but something stopped him each time. Last time he was going to see him he was attacked by Killer Frost and ended up back on Earth One.  
Watching the coffee drip toward the rim of the pot he remembered another reason why he needed to get back to Earth-One again soon. His precious coffee. Opening the cabinet once again he counted the cans, did some quick math, and relieved shut the door once more. Enough for one more week.  
So what to do tonight? It was late already. He was thinking of doing what Barry used to when his heart was broken, vegging out on the couch and watching a musical. Or he could just watch the news. Maybe dust off his guitar?  
The possibilities were endless.  
He could go see Caitlin, wander over to Jitters and catch up, it had been almost a month. Getting that coffee was a good mission, right? He should get it before something happened at the Agency and he couldn't. No, he just took a shower and had his comfy plaid sleep pants on, a thick rich cup of coffee in his hand. He knew she would get immediately why he would come and help her monitor the pretty inactive nightly runs of Barry anyway. There was no real reason and his friend wouldn't let him live it down that he moved to a new earth and was now lonely. Plus he was the epitome of lazy right now, despite his restlessness, and earth one was too far for this exhausted Breacher to travel to.  
He looked at the monitors that lined his wall, his lips lingering on the cup of coffee as the news filled the silence in the background. Maybe someone needed help. Looked like Jax and Sean had it handled, he could always count on those two. Case 240 popped up on the screen and after opening the report with the mouse that was hanging out on his coffee table in front of his lazy spot he found it was only another attempted robbery and assault. The victim was saved but he felt a soar pit in his stomach, this really had to stop. He was starting to feel like he failed this city.  
But it wasn't his place. He was in charge of stopping the major criminals across the Multiverse, and to let the CCPD 18 handle all the smaller crimes, no matter how more and more frequent they were starting to get. At least his two closest partners were there for them. Sean was the most experienced of course, there for a while now, and together they got Jax. Also glad they got him to change his name. Phoenix wasn't really suiting but once he heard the Earth one breacher called him Firestorm he gladly went with.  
There were a few others he looked up to and recruited from this new world, especially Felicity, who worked the headquarter computers. His thoughts were interrupted by his com going off. He put it in his ear taking another sip of his coffee.  
"Cisco here you guys okay?"  
"Hey boss, it's Jax. Sean is putting in a report right now."  
"Everything going okay?" he repeated, trying to get through any layers of pleasantry until he knew that his men where alright.  
"We are both alright. Poor girl we saw earlier today had some unfriendly company waiting for her after work to finish any job that jerk number one didn't. We are about to see her at the hospital. Hey, you should come."  
"It sounds like you have it under control but yeah, sure," Cisco said running his hand through his damp curls. "Is she alright?"  
"You should come down and ask her yourself" he pushed, knowing his friend and boss would love the waitress that took down a bunch of truckers alone and would for sure need someone to protect her. Maybe it would get his mind off of Gypsy, and who knows where it could go.  
"Okay..." Cisco nodded looking down at his pajama pants rubbing his bare chest. "Sure I'll be right there."  
"Only if you want to Cisco. She's safe enough and we can make sure she gets somewhere safe. She found a soft spot in my heart from her self-preservation, and I think Sean likes her as well. Hard to tell. Anyway, maybe we can use her at the C.A?"  
"You think she's a meta?" Cisco inquired changing into his Vibe suit putting his glasses on leaving his jacket open for a moment as he finished his coffee.  
"No I don't think so, no powers came out except for the normal fight or flight instinct, but she's pretty good at it. Maybe she had some classes in self-defense, she seems to be able to take care of her self, for the most part. If these men who came after her were metas she might not have been so lucky."  
"Okay I'll be right there then you guys make sure she's alright, I'll meet her and see if she would be willing to join us. I don't think she will be wanting to serve soup and coffee after tonight."  
Cisco zipped up his jacket over his Star Wars T-shirt and lifted his hand once again to breach out, only to be interrupted by a female voice over his com.  
"Hey there Cisco, I mean Mr. Ramon... Boss? Hm sir?" the frazzled voice brought a smile to his lips.  
"Hello Felicity, what is it?"  
"There's a meta headed toward the power plant, the temperature around the little bleep on the monitor is dropping rapidly, I think its someone who uses ice or cold. Well I mean that would make sense right? Maybe they use heat and draw the heat from around.."  
"No.." Cisco sighed "No you are right I know who it is. The Power Plant you said? Tell the guys I'm needed elsewhere and to keep an eye on the waitress."  
"You're going alone?" she started him once again interrupting her with the sound of a breach.  
"Yes I'm here," he whispered a moment later, his breath seen in the rainy night sky. "Stand by." 


	3. Chapter 3

It was Acherontic.  
The kind of frigid darkness that fills you with dread because you know the dark and the cold had only started to seep in. Relentless rain poured from the sky, making the long lines of electricity that swung over Vibes head crackle, filling the bitter air with the smell of electricity. Any moment she would be here.  
He thought the ice that his opponent would be bright blue, much like his friends back on Earth One, but this time it was different. He heard it coming, the sound of the rain forming into little black diamonds, falling to the concrete below it with little plinks of hail. A rolling crackling mixed with the never-ending electric noise around him and his breath was just a vapor, there a moment under the sparks above that suddenly fell and gone within the ebony night.  
A shiver almost made him go numb, as his wet hair dripped down his face, freezing his skin as the silent snake of gelid bitterness came sliding up to him, high heels resonating on the ice that formed beneath the invisible black iced that was coming.  
" I won't fight you " he called out, sucking in air that made his lungs scream with the frost he filled them with.  
" Do I have to take your other leg? " whispered he could feel the sting of the words that filled the air, freezing on the cheek.  
She was much closer then he imagined, only an inch away when another transformer spark lit them both up, him looking through his glasses that were now malfunctioning through the wintry mist of her breath.  
" I won't fight you " he repeated, straightening up once again. "Ever. No matter what you do to me I'm not going to hurt you. You can change I know..."  
His words were cut short by a glove around his neck, his gauntlets charging up and sending the woman back although she caught herself with another ice slide.  
Keeping his hands up he took a step forward, his boots almost slipping on the ice she formed where she once stood.  
" I don't want you anymore, Vibe" she hissed, saying his codename with a hint of extra spite as the glow from his gauntlets showed her black ice slide zigzagging all around him, a flash of her white hair flying past as she rode it almost straight up into the air and around the big power grid. " I have something I need the power for, I'm sure you don't mind if I just borrow it."  
" how can you just borrow power? You're going to hurt yourself! Water is a ..."  
Before he could speak she threw three metallic balls from her blue coat. With a whirring, they circled the power grid closer and closer until he was thrown back by a powerful explosion that rocked the whole area.  
"Oh did I say 'borrow'? I meant its lights out."  
Groaning he lifted his head, a good hundred feet away and saw her slide away into the night. His goggles were flickering all over the place, sparking with an electrical short, his whole body aching as he tried to get to his feet.  
She wasn't burrowing the electricity, she wanted it dark... or her husband wanted it dark. Where did she get the T Spheres from?  
His thoughts raced as he wondered if he should pursue the half of the arctic duo that hurt his heart so much to see her full-blown villain, or to go back to the Collection Agency to see what they were really after. Slowly he reached up and pressed the com in his ear.  
"Felicity..." he started watching the sparks fly down from the grid, the rain in the air hissing with the high voltage.  
"Vibe?" she started "are you okay? What happened? We went dark. Using the generator to keep the main computer running but we are low on pretty much every resource now."  
"Can you track where she went?"  
"No...I can't we have to keep this line open for communications. Are you hurt?" she repeated herself, staring helplessly at the black screens in front of her as she turned on her cellphone flashlight and leaned it against a bottle of water at her desk, the fragmented light making the desk in front of her glow.  
"A bit, but I'm alright. I'm going to breach around town and see what they are up to. Keep me informed if you happen to find out anything."  
"You got it. Be careful."  
Meanwhile, Sean and Jax were in the hospital room with Amy. Doctors came and left making sure she was okay and bandaging her nose as her eyes swelled around it, the skin around her chocolate eyes way more than black and blue. She would have worn it as a badge of honor if it wasn't caused by her running into a glass door, no one else but the police caring about her heroic escape from the truckers at the café.  
"Don't worry. We have your back." Jax said sitting on a chair beside her bed, leaning back casually as Sean just stood in the corner, arms crossed and watching the scene before him unfold.  
"Yeah Miss Amy. As soon as they said you are free to go we will take you home. If not, we can take you somewhere safe. A shelter or a home for people who need help."

A home? Not another one. The young woman looked at him more frightened of his words then she was of her attackers.  
"I have apartment. Two miles from café. Please no home, no reservation."  
The speedster instantly dropped his arms, feeling horrible about his choice of words.  
"Oh no, I didn't mean like that," he said coming over and taking her wrapped hand gently not to hurt the bloody knuckles under the bandage. "No, no I meant we could make sure you were somewhere safe if you didn't want to go home alone."  
"Home I am safe. Just take me there." she looked from one to the other of the men who saved her, more than once.  
"Don't worry, Amy. We won't let anything else happen to you." Jax smiled brightly but it instantly faded when the hospital went dark. Pitch dark. The iridescent light was the last to fade.  
Panic spread rapidly throughout the halls and rooms of the small hospital, people starting to fumble over each other, others who were dependent on machines making people panic more. The air was heavy with the electricity that was building, and on this earth, that meant one thing.  
"That's it, we're out," Sean said, picking up Amy carefully looking up at the fading light until there was nothing but darkness pressed around them. Generators kicked on noisily as nurses and doctors scrambled to make sure life-saving equipment was up and running, scared patients and the elderly in a panic as much as the staff.  
Jax nodded, his hands bursting to life with light giving flames.  
"Let's take her to the CA. She will be safe there at least for a bit. These power outages have to stop though, it's getting a little crazy."  
The conversation faded although even in the wind and blur that followed a moment later she still felt the chest of the man who was carrying her move not just in a steady motion as if he was standing still, but in a few short breathes revealing somehow, even though they had to be traveling at the speed of sound he was still communicating to his friend.  
Before the words could catch up to her, she found herself in front of the large building, lights flickering inside as the busy agency tried to find the power to keep running. Lightning lit up the sky, but not purple or blue like she had seen come from of the people who worked here, but pure red lightning tore through the sky above, a roaring thunder sweeping as a large sound-wave through the night above as she was pulled in by her arm out of the now dangerous situation outside.  
"Unplug all the computers, I don't care if there is no power!" a frantic woman, her long blonde hair swinging behind her as she ran around helping unplug all equipment that made the Agency run yelled out.  
"This is ridiculous!" an elder man exclaimed, doing his best to comply until Sean sparked back to life, all plugs laying on the floor in a matter of seconds.  
Amy wished she had time to take the building itself in, but she didn't. It was cold and dark and she felt with the lights on the feeling wouldn't be much different. People bustling with headlights back and forth, all talking at once in the ever-growing danger that the earth possessed. It rained here all the time, sure, but the storms that the atmosphere above lashed out were more terrifying than any other natural disaster on the planet.  
"Thanks, Sean." the man said before his light caught sight of the broken woman at the doorway. He watched her a moment then walked over to her, his hands going to her shoulders as he leaned down a bit. "Are you alright? You must be that hero we all heard so much about. You're a brave woman, Amy was it?"  
Amy nodded, her wet hair dripping down her back as she squinted to see the man through two swollen eyes in the darkness that pressed around them.  
"Hi Amy," the first woman said coming over, her hand resting on the man before her shoulder. "I'm Felicity and this is Harry. Come on in...we have a gas kettle, and about to make some tea at least. With this storm, you are stuck with us a while I'm afraid. Not even Sean can go out in it."  
Harry nodded escorting the young woman to a small square table in the corner of the room.  
"What about Cisco?" he tapped the table with his knuckle after helping Amy find a seat, the revelation that the head of the Agency was still out there, and with this storm, he was in more danger then Killer Frost or her new found husband Captain Cold could ever make.  
"On it" Felicity went back to the computer trying to redirect power to what she needed in order to bring them up long enough to find their leader and friend.  
Harry watched the native woman a moment, as if he was trying to figure her out but smiled a big kind smile when he brought her some tea to the candle covered table, watching how she stared into the little flames dancing upon their colored wicks, casting shadows that danced in the same beat they did along the plain grey walls.  
"Are you okay?" he almost whispered as he put the tea in front of her, dangling his own tea bag over the steaming water of his own cup, watching it seep and brew in drips.  
"Okay, thank you. I sound like pig trying to inhale but I okay." she looked up as the superheated lightning flashed through the sky again, distorting through the reinforced glass bricks that lined only one side of the room they were in.  
Harry nodded almost jumping. Still wasn't used to the almost supersonic boom that followed each flash of light.  
"The atmosphere is really unstable here isn't it?" he said, picking his words carefully.  
A small nod came from her head as she made a motion like rain falling.  
"We need rain power. Outside town, they try wind power. Big fans got hit with skylight" she shrugged it off always having the idea that things wouldn't keep going out if there was only some way to keep the rain making electricity instead of whatever they were doing. The dark stormy night was proof of that.  
"Rain… hardness the rain." Harry said, his blue eyes big in thought as he brought his teacup down, eyes transfixed on Amy. "you mean making something that uses the power of rain falling to make the power turn on...interesting."  
Without saying another word he got up, deep in thought. He talked to himself as if giving himself the encouragement to work on the idea that Amy gave him, paced a few times and put his hands on his hips turning to the window as if the rain itself would tell him how to handle the problems he was contemplating. After a few minutes, he gave a long slow breath and disappeared into the darkness leaving her confused and alone. Her cup of tea later, Sean came by once more, his clothing changed and a bowl of soup in his hands.  
"Wheres Harry?" he asked sipping it slowly before placing it down to cool. He disappeared a moment, the room filling purple but before she knew it he was back wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and squatting in front of her by her knees tugging it gently so it covered her for the most part when he realized even with his speed the rain got her a big wet.  
"He go." she smiled softly looking down at him. "He have idea I think"  
A small chuckle came from the speedsters lips as he watched her a moment, rubbing his chin as he got up to reclaim his soup.  
"You know, you really need to meet Cisco."  
"Okay, where he is?"  
"Where is he." he corrected gently "it's okay you are doing very well with your English, not your first language? It wasn't my wives either. She would have liked you."  
A small shake of her head was her answer, filled with an instant regret after doing so her fingers delicately going to her face but through the pain that crept through her cheeks from her nose, she saw as many tears in his eyes as she felt filling hers. Poor man.  
"Don't worry about it just keep your head stable and still. The less you move the less it will hurt. Felicity is going to make you a bed up in one of the offices, we are all stuck here until this storm passes and then we will find out where Cisco is if he doesn't just pop in by himself."  
Amy gave him a puzzled look, but after seeing how many people here had special gifts his words didn't really surprise her, just made her wonder exactly what this Cisco Ramon could do. If it was like the Firestorm and the Speedster she felt close with, he had to be incredible.


	4. Machinations

Machinations

 _ **Earth One**_

 _Breach alert._

 _Breach alert._

The last thing that the doctor needed, looking up from her never-ending paperwork to the flashing yellow lights spinning around the cortex, computer monitors flashing their warnings in the normal fashion that made her already tired eyes burn in the brightness. Not to mention the whistle that came into her com, the silent alarm to not alert the intruder about the fact that they knew of their presence. Of course, some people at Star Labs wanted a blaring siren going off, mostly Barry so he could get back quickly to see who it was.

However, Barry just went home to his wife with a phone call saying she wanted, no needed, some donuts and some Chinese food.

Iris was pregnant, that's for sure, and in her second trimester was making poor Barry run even to Star City for some of the delicious Thai food she would enjoy when they visited their friend Oliver Queen.

Not to mention little Lindy was with Caitlin all night so that Iris could get a little rest. The beautiful little girl who never met her father had fallen asleep on the couch in what used to be Cisco's office. Often when Barry agreed to babysit with his double life, the doctor was the one to watch the little girl. She didn't mind at all although the child didn't realize it, she kept her company through some long lonely nights.

She peeked in on her, smiling softly as she shut the door, locking it for her own safety until the warning was over.

"Sleep well," she whispered before almost running down the hallway, the flashing lights and buzzing in her ear an ever-constant reminder of the warning.

 _Breach Alert._

Yes, she got it. After DeVoe, there was even more of a need to put on this surge of power alert into everything at Star Labs. It wouldn't matter who made the breach, good or bad, the alarm would still go off, and although it was just completed last week with help of Ray and Felicity, it was already irritating her tremendously. But better safe than sorry, right?

Hurrying to the breaching room her hair slowly started to change from the beautiful chestnut color to the blank white, her blue eyes flickering to life as she opened the room raising her hands. If there was an intruder, she was ready.

"Whoa!" Came a familiar voice as her hand lowered, his hands raising.

"Cisco?" A smile spread to her lips as her hair slowly turned back looking at her soaking wet friend.

"Hey ya, Cait, sorry I was out breaching around and I got stuck in a lightning storm so decided to come where I was guaranteed a cup of coffee" he looked down shaking his hands flicking water all over the floor " and some dry clothes. "

" Didn't feel like being a lightning rod?" She grinned going to him, her arms wrapping around his shoulders for a brief hug, but a slightly unpleasant look crossed her face as his soaked clothes slowly seeped water into her teal sweater.

"Argh." she said in half disgust although any change to hug her friend for the past so many years was just too undeniably important, and she would do it again in a heartbeat.

A slight smile came to his face as he took off his sparking goggles, his H.U.D flickering with his final message to Felicity, asking if they were okay and he was going to breach back to e1 until it was safe again. Her answer was long and rambling, flickering across his vision in green words, only enough visible through his broken glasses to know they were okay and she would see him soon.

Something about Harry in the rain and this Amy was safe with them going...or staying...

The message was too long and his dying glasses couldn't take it. Right now star labs sweats and coffee was all he wanted. He would fix it later.

" How's your leg doing?" Kat asked her friend when he got out of his office bathroom with new clothes on, a towel going through his hair to dry it as her hand went through the hair of the little girl who was still blissfully asleep but now facing the other way.

" Great thanks. I don't feel a day over fifty or so, " he said in a soft murmur following his friend out of his office and into the hallway once more.

" Still no mystery woman huh?" She smiled, her head and hands in the break room refrigerator fishing out leftover Thai food from lunch and putting it into the microwave for him only a few minutes later.

" No... maybe she isn't real; but I swear Kat, it's like she was there right after Sara left... but I barely remember Sara being there. " his fingers went automatically to the coffee pot, his favorite mug left beside it for his visits.

" I know what you mean. They said they came to get something back to the right time, but I don't remember them coming, which is odd right? " flinching when she got the bowl out of the beeping machine she blew on her fingers, icy breath cooling what she found out the hard way was way too hot.

Cisco stared at her a moment, his muscles instantly flinching, which the ever observant doctor didn't fail to recognize.

" is she after you again? "

"This time, it wasn't me. I don't remember what happened much after my leg disappeared... and even less about being here. I remember coming, the pain, then nothing. Next thing I remember you are making sure I am steady enough to walk on my own, hovering over me like a mother hen with a fox around. "

"Must be the medication I had to put you on?" she said, assuring him it was okay to forget although she couldn't figure out herself the time she was missing as well.

" Always there for me though, you fixed me up right like you always do" he studied his best friends face a moment, noticing himself the bewildered look followed by a slightly confused smile " it's blank for you too, isn't it?"

" Has to be sleep deprivation. I'm sure of it. For some reason Barry has been using Killer Frost a lot while he goes out, she's backing him up more then I have behind the computer. But iris did get that job she wanted at the newspaper "

" Well, " he started, running his hand through his damp hair sitting down, his curls bouncing right back to where they framed his face " That's great to hear. Maybe she can help everyone else out more with a high position "

"And she's having a baby, two actually"

Now a grin couldn't help but spread over the Breachers face.

" Really?! That's fantastic. " it's about time they became parents "

"Right on schedule " she chuckled, her gaze fixed a moment on the calendar.

November 17, 2020.

In five years they had to stop the fate that Gideon showed them years ago. But for now, they sat as friends, sharing stories of their heroic and less than heroic lifestyles. Just like old times.

 _ **Somewhere on Earth 19**_

White hair sweeping in the rain, Killer Frost dodged her way through the darkness, swirling and spiraling on inky murk that was only illuminated by flashes of ferocity and light. She was almost there. This storm was an obnoxious surprise and more than anything she wanted to finish the job she started with the new head of the collection agency. That Vibe was so annoying. Her blue lip curled up in spite at the thought as her focus went from what she set out to do today to the insignificant throne in her side that kept trying to call her Caitlin and say there was good in her. She hated this whole earth and anyone that thought she shouldn't reign it with her new husband. She was doing this for him while he, powerless, was off trying to make a better life for her.

Soon they would have what they needed, and together they would be out of this miserable little wedge of hell.

"There's my girl" a heavy coated figure smiled at her, sunglasses on his face until her heels clicked on the concrete stepping off the ice slide.

"Hey baby, get what we need?" She smiled as he removed his glasses, his icy blue eyes staring right into hers before their lips met.

That was the only thing warm about Killer Frost or her partner in crime and life, Captain Cold. Two hearts beating warmly for only each other, the world their snowy playground and the heroes at the Collection Agency only the warm sun to melt away their fun.

"Yes I believe I did," he said as they parted, turning as he pulled a dusty sheet off of a huge painting with some gaudy flair only he could pull off. "Behold one of the ugliest paintings in the whole world. "

Killer Frost crossed her arms looking rather unimpressed at the huge all-white canvas with one blue stripe going from top to bottom, not even in the center, and one thin strip of gold on the right side.

"That better be real gold " she practically hissed, unbelieving she just cut the power to most of the city so he could take a kindergarten of a picture and haul it unseen by the city cameras down the street.

"Actually. No. It's called White Fire. Not at all attractive but it's the first of many we need. You see... I was going through all the art I have seen, and some I have taken through the years and remembered this one. These two stripes are worth over three million dollars. "

"So we're selling them?" She inquired stepping closer to it, looking it over as if some message was hidden within the ugliness and then to the man beside her.

A small chuckle developed in the air in front of him, more seen than heard in the cold dark air illuminated by a singular spotlight.

"We are going bigger, " he whispered, " don't be so small minded."

"Excuse me?" She whipped her head toward him hating people calling her simple or small-minded her hair flowing around her like freshly fallen snow the underside of it a dark blue, wanting to change it up a bit from what Vibe told her Caitlin looked like on his earth. No way was she like her.

"Calm down my ice queen." he grinned "your beautiful work of distracting Mr. Ramon and taking out the power was perfect and led me not just to one of these paintings, but three others. For years they thought there was only four in the set."

Killer Frost crossed her arms watching her overeager boyfriend take off the other sheets from the paintings, each white with only blue and gold lines, one with only two red lines that crossed in the middle.

"Are they flags?" she asked, almost in a whisper thinking out loud more then telling the man in front of her who was looking over each one as if he himself was trying to figure them out.

"No, not really. The man that did these was in the Collection Agency, as a prisoner. When he was there they put him in cryogenics although I'm sure the idiots believed that serving a long sentence frozen was a humane way of doing things, they failed to realize the most important part of him was still there. His mind."

"He looks insane if you ask me. I could do these when I was four," she said a little louder, her voice echoing in the middle of the large warehouse over the loud crackle of the violent storm outside and the generator that had the singular light on that illuminated the four worse paintings she ever saw.

"There's beauty in the simple," he said, taking one of the canvasses and pushing it behind the first one, then the ones with the horizontal lines behind that one, finally the ones with the red lines crossing behind of them. "This man was awake the whole time, heard what they said, every word of it. He found out there was a Collection Vault where all things taken from the criminals they took in were housed. Of course, they are given back when you get out."

"So..." a grin crossed her face as she watched him roll the spotlight behind the canvasses that were lined up like a close-knit line of soldiers, all the colors from each one shining through to the front "So all the money and rings and weapons and anything all those poor saps have is stored in a vault."

"Right sweetness." he said coming to her again and holding up a map of the city "And he drew us a map. These are roads to where, I believe, the vault is."

She looked at the lines that indeed looked like roads, the golden lines the underground subway system that was long flooded out and deemed not worth fixing on the stormy planet.

"And the last painting is the X that marks the spot?" She looked at him her blue eyes glowing in the faint light that illuminated the paintings.

"X never marks the spot, but yes, so to speak. Problem is no one knows where it is or didn't think it was part of a series."

"Then." Frost said putting her hands behind her back and turning to the door. "when the storm is over I'll go get some cute little dress and do my hair."

"Although I love seeing you in cute little dresses, why?" he inquired his plan was to figure out through the underground where the last painting will be, and he never wanted her with him unless having a beautiful woman would sway those he talked to in one way or another.

"There are three art shows that have been advertised for weeks, even if they aren't the main exhibit, that means..."

"Huge crowds we can go as socialites." he finished for her chuckling as a snowball hit his chest. She hated when he interrupted her which made it all the more fun to do so.

"Now if this storm would stop. It's really bad out there," she said simply opening the door to the warehouse, a small shed about three steps away.

Waiting for a flash of lightning and the deafening crack before she made her small jog into to the next building her hair stood on end. Finally, they had a plan to destroy those that could take them on. With all the people that were captured, each of them with their own tech to take down their worse enemies that went under the name of the C.A., her and her soon to be husband could stop living in this dump and go where they belonged. One of those fancy mansions on the other side of town, drinking champagne and watching the fireplace. Actually, forget the fireplace.

 _ **The next morning, at the Collection Agency.**_

"Good morning," Felicity said over her coffee cup to a frazzled Harry Wells, who was walking beside a very tired looking Amy. The storm last night was enough to keep anyone awake, anyone but the pretty blond who was at the table with her pink coffee cup.

"Good morning Miss Smoak," he replied simply as he poured himself and their new friend a cup of coffee, handing it to the woman who sat beside Felicity.

"How you sleep well?" Amy said taking her cup with a nod of thanks a yawn escaping her bruised lip as she inhaled deeply through a bandaged nose, the noise it making like a gurgling instead of much else.

"These," she said opening her purse up after gathering it from the floor, pulling out two small circles of foam. "They are from Palmer Tech. I met Ray a few months ago and he sent these to me in the mail last week. They help with people who are insomniac, like I am, and ever since I have just slept so well, nothing bothers me."

"We all need a pair of those for these nights that are too stormy around here. Plus I think Sean snores, very quickly."

"I do not." a voice said, suddenly behind him before the wind of his arrival hit the three at the table.

Amy chuckled as he sat beside her a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Felicity." started Harry very slowly, looking at the tech in her hand then back to her. "Do you have this, Mr. Palmer's, phone number? Once communications are up I think we should have a talk. I have a little project that I think could be a huge project if we have the right team on it."

"Yes of course I do. I'm sure he would be very interested in your notebook."

"My notebook?" the man inquired until Sean slid it over from the center of the table where it was kept. "Oh yes, my notebook."

Harry smiled picking it up. He could always count on his new friends to help him out, although his mind didn't always connect the dots. Cisco was right, being here with them he felt like he belonged. Although he went home to see Jessie, his daughter, once in a while, they always made sure he remembered to come back. He could do a lot for them and they all saw it. Sometimes being scatterbrained is a sign of a greater genius anyway.

Sean's hand landed on Amy's shoulder.

"How are you doing?" he smiled kindly to her, the smell of his special coffee lingering around him. Triple the caffeine and half the taste he always said.

"I okay. Work will anger I not there."

"We will deal with your work. Don't you worry about that. You cant get fired if you were under our care, its the law."

Amy nodded wanting to ask him about his wife and if he had any children, but decided against it. When they were good enough friends, he would tell her. Maybe.

"Thank you," she replied, sipping the warmness of the coffee which was real, not the black tea they served at the diner. This was deep and rich, black swirling goodness with the under-taste of bitterness, and drinking it with these new friends of hers was the perfect thing to do, but the longing of home was too great. She had to make sure her cat was okay from the storm, or that her apartment was even still standing. The chances of fires that took out whole neighborhoods was a real threat, sometimes nature was more of a threat than some of any human.

"Go home?" she asked, not wanting to leave the comfort of their company.

Sean stood up and went to the door looking out, his arms folded across his chest as if for a few moments he was in thought, staring into the never-ending rain that always was soaking the planet.

She loved the rain...

"It's just raining like normal." he said simply, pushing the thoughts of his wife out of his head for the time being, if not he would stare and think of her forever. "are you sure you want to go already?"

A simple nod was enough for the speedster, and in an impulse of scintillating purple light, they were gone.

At the same moment another luminescence, this one blue, came from the platform above. A crate of coffee appearing first being pushed through by the leader of the Collection Agency in Star Lab's sweatpants and a simple grey t-shirt.

"Good morning everyone." Cisco smiled looking around half expecting the place to be partly destroyed, but the solid building stood strong.

Felicity sat up, her eyes darting from at him then at the door. _He missed her again._


End file.
